Chapter Forty-Six – Getting Down To Your Business

Chapter Forty-Six – Getting Down To Your Business

“Why do cats push things off of high places?

I don’t know, you’ll have to ask a cat.”

–Miss Kitty K. @, Dog whisperer, 2031

***

I noped out of the meeting about twenty minutes after it started.

Honestly, I’m impressed you made it that long.

“Me too,” I muttered exhaustedly. It felt like I’d spent hours in there. I knew it was only twenty minutes though, because there was a wall clock that tick-tick-ticked menacingly in the corner, and I was practically counting the seconds go by. That had lasted until I remembered that I was a samurai and I wasn’t no one’s bitch. I could up and leave, and that’s exactly what I’d done.

“Stray Cat?” Piper asked as I started through the corridors. She ran after me, an impressive feat with the heels she was wearing. Then again, it looked like she might have cybernetic ankles.

“Yo,” I said, then I paused. “Are you single?”

Piper blinked. “Yes?” she said before her cheeks started to redden. “Are you, uh, asking me out?”

“Huh? No, I have a girlfriend, sorry. Just asking to make sure,” I said.

“Make sure of what? Uh, if you don’t mind me asking.”

I shrugged. “Look, sometimes I run into wayward and lost souls… very gay ones. It’s good to keep a running tally of potential people for them to meet, you know?”

“I… don’t think I do.”

“Huh, well, whatever. Anyway, I’m heading out. I’ll be seeing to the sewers right away and in person. Honestly, I don’t know how corpo-types do it. I’d rather wade in shit than sit in on a meeting like that for another hour.”

“I… see,” Piper said. I think I’d set her off balance there. “That’s fine. Let us know if you notice any issues that the Family needs to address.”

“Yup,” I said before I started walking off.

Right, it was time to check out the sewers themselves. Though I wasn’t entirely sure how. The system spanned, literally, the entire city, and I had no idea where to start. I wasn’t going to just dive into the first manhole I found.

My brain hiccuped as I reprocessed that last bit.

I shook it off and rephrased what I was about to ask Myalis. “I need to hover around and make it clear that there’s a Samurai looking into things,” I said. “It’ll keep people honest.”

I left Piper behind and made my way outside where it was, predictably, raining again. I started towards my bike, then stopped. There was a car parked in the handicapped spot. Parked at an angle so that it literally took up three spots.

It was a nice car, one of those extremely sexy models that looked like it was expensive just to look at. The kind of car that people bought posters of.

“Myalis, who’s car is that?” I asked.

One moment… ah, it’s the car of one of the CEOs of Sunrise Technologies. They have an appointment with the Family at the moment.

“Wait, the fucks that stole from me?”

Yes.

“Hey, Myalis, is there anything… that way?” I gestured to the side.

Below? Nothing in that exact location, no. There’s an unoccupied terrace fifty-nine floors below.

“Mhm,” I said. I walked past the car, got on my bike, then started to push the bike around. It was tricky, but I eventually had the front of my bike pressed right up against the post between the doors of the car. Then I turned the bike on and gave it some gas.

It wanted to twist to the side, but I kept it level with the car, and soon my torque overcame the weight of the car, and it started to move… sideways. The wheels made a disturbing chuffing sound as they scraped along the tarmac, at least until we got to the end of the roof.

The car tipped up onto its side, then disappeared over the edge.